The mom and pop shops of yesteryear are in yesteryear for a reason. Antiquated business models of relying on small local markets and underutilizing the modernization of business has left many small business owners floundering while more adaptive and flexible small businesses are thriving.

1. Update Your Business Model
The mom and pop shops of yesteryear are in yesteryear for a reason. Antiquated business models of
relying on small local markets and
underutilizing the modernization of
business has left many small business
owners floundering while more
adaptive and flexible small businesses
are thriving.
The dissimilarity and fluctuating levels
of success between the two, who,
remember, are both small businesses,
can be clearly seen as can the degree
in which the comparing business
models vary. The small business
owner who flounders will misuse,
underuse, or completely negate
usage of prevalent modern technologies such as the internet to further their business and profits while
the other effectively utilizes this outstanding tool in almost every function of their business.
Using the internet
As common and as prevalent a tool the internet may seem to be to individuals, the number of small
businesses that reject effective use of the internet as a weapon of business is astounding. Using the
internet to promote and facilitate a small business is perhaps the one primary way for a struggling small
business to grow.
Retaining customers, or having the same client return to purchase a small business’s product or service
over and over again, makes up almost three quarters of a growing business’s gross income. Retaining
customers to their product is clearly a vital necessity of any small business, however, some see it only as
a way to generate sustainable and consistent profits and not as the foundation for growth that it really
is.
One of the first rules of business is to provide quality customer service. An increasingly important
aspect of customer service includes maintaining a workable and user-friendly website for your small
business.
Small business webpages offer a place for prospective or returning clients to view the products available
from the comfort of their own home. An effective webpage will help the customer find products in an

2. easy manor and will provide the quality customer service that consumers are looking for which will in
turn boost client retention.
When clients or customers are retained they provide the capital needed for a small business to grow.
Growing a business means generating additional clients (who then become returning clients who build
additional foundational revenue for continued growth in a cylindrical spiral of growth) and generating
additional clients means advertising.
Online marketing is just one example of how doomed businesses fail to utilize modern advances and
how growing businesses find continued success. The first fails to use it or use it properly while the latter
uses online marketing to its fullest potential.
Social media
Most consumers are online at least once per day and
this daily navigation of the World Wide Web usually
contains at least one stop on a social media webpage.
Learning how to effectively use these free or even paid
social media sites can generate massive amounts of
consumer traffic towards the small business owner.
Business with online savoy will be able to not only
effectively market and grow their business but will
likewise be able to provide for other requirements for
business such as online compliance training and online
sexual harassment training for their employees. Online
compliance training and other business certifications will help to streamline otherwise obtrusive
procedures.
By effectively using modern business tools, even the commonplace internet, a small business will be
able to grow and develop when others around them flounder and fail.
Photo credit: Manfrys, Matt Hamm